Parents Talk: Is Pizza Sauce the Veggie You Had In Mind For Your Kids?

A National Public Radio broadcast on Tuesday discussed the perils of Congress and the many things it has to decide. The newest hot topic includes your child's lunch menu at school. The idea of pizza sauce serving as a vegetable is being tossed around.

As part of new nutrition standards proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, schools would need to use about one-half cup of tomato paste on pizza in order for the sauce to count as a vegetable serving.

During the broadcast, Corey Henry of the American Frozen Food Institute said "A slice of pizza would literally be swimming in tomato paste," to constitute a vegetable serving. 

His organization has lobbied Congress to change the provision, and like with most things, not all lawmakers agree on the measure. The House of Representatives has an agriculture appropriations bill that would prevent the new rule on tomato paste from taking effect, if approved.

Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said in a statement that pizza should be served with a vegetable. In an interview with The Salt, Wootan called the measure possibly "the biggest nutritional blunder since Reagan tried to declare ketchup as a vegetable."

This leads me to this week's Parents Talk question. Would you allow your child to believe pizza sauce is a suitable vegetable?